Friday5: Win the Social Media Battle During the World Cup

The 2010 World Cup in South Africa was one of the first international sporting events since the global explosion of social media. In the four years since, online citizens around the world have matured in terms of setting the stage to make this year’s matches one of the biggest social media events of the year. Fans, celebrities and brands will be posting constantly about the World Cup until one team comes out victorious. Here are five tips to help your content succeed during the next few weeks.

1. Break Through the Clutter

Like any large cultural event nowadays social media will be the heart of every campaign trying to attach itself to the World Cup. The social media space will be cluttered with brands fighting for consumer attention throughout the matches. The big brands and companies most likely have contracts and licenses with the FIFA World Cup—they’re the only ones who can and should legally do so. But for the smaller budget brands it’s even more pertinent to break through the clutter with outstanding content. To win the battle on social media requires creative, real-time content and sufficient reach that stands apart from the other noise and drives real connection with consumers.

2. Define Your Core Audience Group

There are millions of people getting excited for the World Cup. But if you break it down, there’s basically two types of World Cup people: the super fan and the casual fan. The super fans are really passionate, diehard soccer fans who’ll be watching as many games as possible, reading news articles and posting frequently online about all the matches. The casual fans are there for the spectacle and to root for their favorite countries. They’re more interested in the popular cultural event rather than the matches themselves. Understand who you are trying to connect with and design content for that core audience group.

3. Act Like A Publisher

For brands to win the World Cup social media battle, they should act like publishers. Transform the brand’s social channels as a content destination for the World Cup. Post content that your core audience group wants to come back for day after day. This will also help your content succeed and break through the clutter.

4. Deliver Emotion Through Content

The World Cup is a game of emotions. Being well-prepared to deliver all the emotions through content is a must. The pre-planned content and anticipated content should be put in place covering moments that will happen—wins and losses—and moments that will most likely happen—bad calls or power outages. Most importantly, content managers must be agile on the reactive content reflecting unpredictable moments in real-time: the goals, the achievements, the failures, the celebrations, the skills, etc. Every moment counts and should not be missed out. It helps brands deliver emotions and ultimately build affinity with an audience on social media.

5. Commit to Real-time Marketing

The biggest difference that sets the social media winners apart would be acting in real-time rather than following a pre-planned execution. Coming up with real-time content that reflects exactly the native conversations is crucial. Then, deciding the right time for paid media helps the content achieve the reach and stand out from the crowd. Fundamentally, to make brands super-relevant and break through the cluttered environment, we must strongly commit to real-time marketing.

People all around the world are getting ready for the four week football frenzy in Brazil. Enjoy the World Cup and see what will be the most talked-about brands this summer.